


Kick 'em When They're Down

by yamaguchi_tadashi



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AAAAAAAAAAA, Alternate Universe, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Korean Keith (Voltron), M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, drummer keith, journalist lance, klance, yall heard about allura being a teen.............. shallura is cancelled
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-11 22:29:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9037508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yamaguchi_tadashi/pseuds/yamaguchi_tadashi
Summary: Lance McClain is just a journalist for VoltroNews, a small publication with a newly-added celebrity column. Keith Kogane is the drummer for the popular band Lion that just happens to be travelling to a familiar small town to shoot a music video. Lance, in search of a much-needed story, stumbles upon Keith, who finds himself in the throes of a very unneeded crush.





	1. Chapter 1

Lance McClain was standing in front of thousands of people, on the stage he had always dreamed of, with a microphone in hand. Hair slicked back, a fancy, expensive outfit designed to look careless and perfect. There were fans screaming his name, their faces wiped out by the bright lights shining down on him; he waved, and they only got louder. 

“Lance! Lance! Lance!”

He cupped his ear, grinning widely, prompting them to be even louder. He could hear the opening notes of the song he had been itching to perform since he had read the first few lines, and he readied himself, planting his feet near the edge of the stage before motioning to his bassist and launching himself into the song

Behind him was the best band he could have asked for, Hunk at the bass, Pidge at the keyboard, a guitar being hefted by Shiro’s super cool prosthetic hand, drums played by that cute Shay. The live music was so much better than any recorded studio version. 

His name adorned hundreds of handmade signs in the crowd, along with the lights in the front of the venue. People across the world had gathered in this space just to see him. He was singing his heart out on this stage and it felt like he was the whole world, like nothing could ever ruin the magical buzz that being here gave him. 

“Lance! Lance! Lance!”

He smiled and smiled, pumping a fist to the beat, swinging his hips as he belted out notes that should be impossible. 

“Lance!!”

And then he fell off a moth-eaten couch, falling hard on a dusty tiled floor, still tangled in three blue felt blankets. 

“Oh, finally you’re awake! We’re late to work, you know. Lucky the manager likes us or we’d be dead by now. It’s also a good thing we work for such a lazy publication, now that i think about it. Now get up, Hunk made breakfast.”

Lance groaned as he sat up, knowing the only place his name would be anytime soon was as the author of a mediocre news article. “Pidge? How did you get into my house?”

“This is Hunk’s place, idiot. You crashed here last night.” Pidge responded, swinging her house keys around her fingers, “You showed up around 1 in the morning going on about how you couldn’t pay rent and then passed out on his couch. I had no idea what you were talking about, anyway; you live with your parents.”

Lance winced at the reminder. “I didn’t drink last night, though.”

Pidge just shrugged. “Man, you do a lot of weird things and I’ve decided not to care too much.” She walked into the kitchen and addressed Hunk. “You called and said something about French toast?”

Lance rubbed his temples and stood, almost tripping over the blankets on the floor and his own feet. He was still wearing his clothes from yesterday and decided it wasn’t worth going back home to grab any more. Hunk was larger than him and Pidge was smaller than him, so no borrowing, either. “Hunk, I’m borrowing your shower, okay bud?” he called into the kitchen doorway, already heading to the bathroom.

“Yeah, of cour- Pidge! That’s raw egg!”

Lance snorted at whatever Pidge could possibly be doing and turned the shower on, watching as the mirror fogged up before he stepped in. 

Heading to work afterwards, still in the same outfit, was as much an ordeal as always. Pidge wanted to try driving, Hunk had to remind her she didn’t have her license yet at 21, and Lance suffered (not so) quietly in the backseat of the yellow Ford Ranger. 

“At least we didn’t have to pick up Lance this morning!” Hunk said cheerfully as they pulled into a parking spot at the publication house. “We already missed half the meeting, so be quiet when you walk in.”

The triad sighed collectively and got out of the truck, Pidge jumping out and laughing as Lance unfolded himself from the back. Hunk held the door open as they rushed inside, racing to the meeting room and easing the door open. 

“You’re late.” a commanding voice came from the front of the room, and Lance looked its way sheepishly.

“Sorry, Allura, my fault.”

Hunk stepped forward. “He means my-”

“Just sit down.” she demanded, rolling her eyes, but sneaking a smile to Shiro, sitting beside her. “We were talking about adding a ‘celebrities’ section to the website. Do you three have any ideas?”

Lance found a seat and settled in, propping his feet on the edge of the table, listening as the conversation moved forward. A ‘celebrities’ section? What was the point of that? Every other publication had a ‘celebrities’ section already.

“A good thought, thank you, Shay,” Allura was saying, when she turned to face Lance. “Our favourite dramatic journalist. Would you be willing to write for that section, Lance?”

“Huh?” Him? He really didn’t want to. “I mean, of course! Lance McClain, number one in celebrity gossip, has this covered!”

“Thank you!” she smiled again, before returning to her banter with Shiro. Lance huffed.

~~~

“Dude, what are you doing?” 

Pidge had her mid-day coffee in hand and was standing on top of a desk, her laptop balanced perfectly on her head. “I’m getting inspiration. There’s nothing interesting going on today to write about that people would still want to read about tomorrow.”

“Me too, me too!” Lance said from a different desk, resting on his back with his legs in the air, his strawberry Monster set precariously on the sole of his shoe. 

Hunk frowned. “Shouldn’t you be actually working? And you might fall, could you two get down?”

“We are working! And no,” Lance answered, trying to switch the Monster from one foot to the other. Pidge laughed at the attempt as the can fell, spilling on Lance’s shirt. “Aaw! This is a white shirt!” He sat up like lightning, picking up the can and running to the bathroom. Pidge just kept laughing, gasping for breath.

“It wasn’t that funny,” Hunk said, plucking the laptop from her head as it wobbled dangerously. “Shiro’s coming down in a minute to see if you and I are making any progress on our photojournalism article.”

Pidge got down from the desk as Lance came back in from the bathroom, his shirt off and sopping wet at his side. “Hey guys, I’m back, did you miss me?”

“No.” Pidge said cheerfully, simultaneously with Hunk, who grumbled “Of course we did.” 

A knock on the newsroom door announced Shiro’s arrival. “You kids working?” he asked, smiling, until his eyes fell on Lance. “Ah.”

Lance grinned. “Hey, Shiro. What’s up?” he leaned against the desk he had previously been laying on, his left hand on his hip. He tried to run his other hand through his hair, but forgot he was holding his dripping shirt, effectively hitting himself in the face with it. Hunk and Pidge left with Shiro for their meeting, Pidge cracking up once again, as Lance emerged, spluttering. “Guys! Come on.” he whined, collapsing in an actual chair, as the door closed. His hand dropped to rest on the desk, landing on his phone. 

Staring guiltily at it, he thought of the 11 missed calls from his mom. She had lost another job and his dad was still in the hospital; Eva was working and sending as much money as she could back home, and his younger brother Sebastian had started work as well, despite still being in high school. Lance himself had wanted to start living on his own so as to not put more financial stress on his mother, but it’s not like he earned that much himself. They had gotten into a fight about it last night and he didn’t want to tell Hunk, but maybe he’d be sleeping at his friend’s place longer than one night. Maybe he’d just move right in. 

He laughed. Yeah, right. He wouldn’t do that to poor Hunk. 

He stood and stretched, phone still in hand, and almost dropped it when it buzzed. He opened it to a text from Allura. 

‘I have your first story for the celebrities column’

~~~

“Wait, wait, did you just say Keith? As in Keith Kogane? As in THE KEITH KOGANE.”

“Yes, yes, the Keith Kogane, would you just listen? He-”

“Keith Kogane from Lions?”

“Yes, Lance, are you a fan?” Allura asked in exasperation, her fingernails tapping on her pen.

“No, I just think he’s incredibly pretentious. Have you seen him? Think’s he’s a god or something because his band is just sooo goooood.” he made sure to pepper that last sentence with as much sarcasm as he could.

“Well. Alright, then. As I was saying, he’s rumoured to be having an affair-”

“Rumoured? Is VoltroNews a tabloid now?”

“Lance, this wasn’t my idea. It was Coran’s, and he was very excited to tell me the latest gossip, and he really wants you to do this story, so would you just listen?”

Now Lance felt bad. He liked Coran. “Sorry, sorry. Go ahead.”

“He’s rumoured to be having an affair with a model. Nyma? Have you heard of her?”

“Who hasn’t? And doesn’t he have to be dating someone before he can have an affair?”

“That’s another rumour- that he’s dating the lead singer of Lions. Rolo Vox.”

There was a clatter as Lance dropped his second Monster can, almost jumping out of his chair. “What?? Seriously? Rolo? Lucky, that guy’s hot!”

Allura rested her chin in her hand. “Yes, we know, you’ve said that before.”

Lance picked at the sleeve of his shirt, now back on. “Anyway, so I’m supposed to report on this affair? Or whatever? How am I supposed to do that when Keith Kogane, Rolo, and Nyma are all in Los Angeles?”

“That’s the thing,” Allura sighs, “They’re supposed to be coming down here for a music video shoot. And they’ll be editing on site too, just in case, so you’ll get two weeks.”

Lance smiled and saluted her. “You can count on me! When will they be flying down?”

Allura looked down at her paper. “According to sources, and by that I mean Shiro, they should be here the day after tomorrow.”

Lance nodded, pursing his lips and placing his finger thoughtfully on his cheek. “Hmm. Two days to think of a reason to get close to them.” he paused. “How does Shiro know, anyway?”

Allura looked surprised. “Didn’t you know? Shiro is Keith’s foster cousin.”

It was the second time Lance almost jumped up, and he ended up banging his knee on the underside of the table. “Wha-” he grasped at the word as he tried to speak coherently, ‘WHAT? His foster cousin, you said? All this time, the co-editor at a tiny publication house had a connection to one of the most famous bands of our time? Are you kidding me?”

Allura laughed, motioning for Lance to sit down. “Yes, yes, it’s all very exciting, I know. But if you could-”

“No, this is perfect. Shiro can just tell him I’m a huge fan, that I want to get to know him or something, and I can get close enough to, like, learn all his deepest, darkest secrets.”

“Or you could just interview him? He’s only here for two weeks.” Allura frowned, pretty tired of being cut off.

“No. It’s better this way. More exciting, more theatrical. Thank you so much, Allura, I won’t let you down! Lance reporting for duty!” and with those closing remarks, he ran out of Allura’s office to find Hunk and Pidge and tell them the news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was inspired by the song Dirty Laundry by Don Henley, btw!! it's a good song, go have yourself a listen :0 anyway!! sorry this is short, all my chapters will probably be around 2k, so there won't be much aa and sorry if it's the worst thing you've ever read, i'm not very good at pacing either but i'm trying to get better so we'll see how this goes ;; 
> 
> you can find me on tumblr at [official-tooru](http://www.official-tooru.tumblr.com) !! (i used to be lance-mcfreakin-mcclain if any of you knew me by that url!)


	2. Chapter 2

“Woah, congratulations!” 

Lance had just told his two best buds about his opportunity to do a story (or tabloid article, whichever you prefer) on Keith Kogane. Hunk hugged Lance until he was sure he’d stopped breathing. 

“It’s just one article, about something that might not even be true, no big deal.” Lance shrugged once Hunk let go, pretending to check his nails, smiling smugly. 

“As much as I don’t like Rolo, he is cute, in a boyish kind of way. Remember to get his autograph, I know how much you salivate over him.” Pidge said, smiling sweetly. Lance scoffed and lunged at her to ruffle her hair. She ducked and ran away, hiding behind Hunk, cackling. Hunk sighed and smiled, holding out his hands to catch Lance before he could reach Pidge. 

“Hunk! Buddy,” he whined, frowning, placing his hands over Hunk’s biceps, “I thought you were on my side!”

“This is a coup d'etat!” Pidge replied gleefully, sticking her tongue out, further infuriating Lance. He went limp in Hunk’s arms, pouting.

“Whatever. I’ll still be meeting Rolo Vox and you aren’t.”

“Don’t care.”

Lance sighed dramatically, slapping a hand to his cheek and slowly collapsing to his knees. “You were supposed to be my… amigos…”

The other two laughed. “What is this, an American-made telenovella?” Pidge giggled, coming out from behind Hunk and throwing herself across Lance’s legs. “Oh, mi amor, I am so sorry!” she drawled out the vowels, batting her eyelashes. Hunk stifled more laughter and motioned for the other two to get up as Allura and Shiro entered the room.

“Hey, kids,” Shiro greeted, as Allura sighed, “Please get off the floor, Lance, and get to work on that Kogane article.”

Lance smiled, hiding his embarrassment of being caught by Allura, and jumped to his feet. “Shiro, buddy, why didn’t you ever tell me you were tight with Lions?”

Shiro sighed, but smiled in that ‘I can deal with this my wage is higher than his’ way. “We’re not tight. I just happen to be family with Keith.”

“I bet you could snag tickets whenever you wanted, huh?”

“I’d have to ask a few favours, but yes, I suppose-”

“Perfect,” Lance was rubbing his hands together, a classic villain pose, smiling widely, “So you wouldn’t mind helping out your old pal Lance.” He sat at the edge of his desk, his fingers steepled below his chin, his foot restlessly tapping his opposite leg.

Shiro looked at him cautiously. “I wouldn’t mind, no, but what are you planning?”

“When is Lions’ next concert? And where?” 

“They’re not on tour right now. Answer the question, Lance.”

Lance sighed, letting out a long ‘aaw’ of disappointment. “Seriously? Man, I was gonna go one step ahead and get backstage passes! Earn Keith’s trust early! Be able to do the whole ‘remember me’ bit!” he slouched on the desk, frowning, thinking. “I guess it’s back to the thinking board.”

Pidge snorted. “Are you some kind of cartoon character?”

Lance rolled his eyes, sticking out his tongue at her. “Yes. Piss off.”

Shiro and Allura shared a glance and left, waving goodbye to Hunk, closing the door softly behind them as Pidge and Lance fought like children. 

~~~

“So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?” Hunk asked over their Friday night Monopoly game. It was the night before Keith Kogane and Lions were coming to town, and Lance was getting prepped for the Plan™ that was going to be put into action the next day. “And are you planning to spend the night here again?”

“Yeah, sorry bud.” Lance replied, a little guiltily, as he passed GO and collected $200. “But! Tomorrow will be the day that goes down as the day Lance McClain talks to Keith Kogane, the day we become best friends and I uncover all the darkest secrets he has to hide!” 

Pidge huffed and blew a strand of hair out of her face. “He won’t waste two minutes on you, but yeah, best friends,” she deadpanned, buying the ferris wheel.

Lance flicked over her little hat playing piece with his middle finger, flipping her off in the process. “Yeah well I’m gonna prove you wrong and become besties with the Lions drummer and get his autograph right on my boobs.”

Pidge kicked at him from across the board, scattering blue and green money everywhere. “Oh, whatever, drama queen!” she laughed, falling back as Lance lunged to tickle her. Hunk smiled as he cleaned up the fallen pieces and the miscellaneous cards, watching the two wrestle around on his tiled floor. He remembered he hadn’t swept in three weeks and decided not to tell them. 

“Oh!” Lance exclaimed, standing up as Pidge clung stubbornly to his leg, “I’ll need to borrow the truck tomorrow morning.”

“Uh, sure. Can you wait until after we’ve driven to work?”

“Yeah, of course! I need to get the location from Shiro anyway,” Lance answered, brushing off his jeans and shaking Pidge off. “Thanks a bunch, man.”

The two smiled and nodded at each other as Pidge got to her feet and stretched, yawning. “Alright boys, time for me to be off. Sleep tight, sweet dreams, don’t die for the few hours I’m gone.”

“Be safe walking home!” Hunk called as she walked to the door. 

“I will, it’s only three blocks away, who’s gonna kidnap me so close to home?”

The door slammed shut and Lance flopped onto the couch. “Is it really kidnapping if she’s an adult though? I mean, KIDnapping, it says kid, shouldn’t it be, like, adultnapping?”

“I want to be adult napping,” Hunk muttered, “but no, it’s just called abducting, I would guess.” 

“You’re a genius!” Lance said, grabbing his blankets and making himself comfortable as Hunk picked up the folded game board. “Good night, pal.”

“Good night, Lance.” 

It was a dreamless sleep, and Lance was grateful when he woke up the next morning with sunlight filtering through the window across from him. He didn’t want any dreams distracting him today. 

He kicked the covers off his legs and stumbled into the kitchen, slipping on yesterday’s socks and kicking off his sweats. He had gotten clothes from his house when he knew his mom was out job hunting and his siblings were at school. He pulled on some jeans and rummaged through the cabinets for cereal. The door opened and Pidge walked inside, still combing her short hair.

“Hey. Put on a shirt.”

“What? Oh, silly me, I forgot girls existed.” Lance fluttered his eyelashes, his hand over his mouth in a dainty gesture, his shoulders hunched forward in feigned self-consciousness. 

“Shut up, you wish! So you wouldn’t be pining over every pretty one that looked your way.”

“You can’t say anything, missy, you still have a crush on that girl from high school who works at the flower shop.” Lance retaliated from down the hall, grabbing a shirt from Hunk’s room.

Pidge spluttered, “I do not! And even if I did, it’s hard to get over your first kiss!”

“It was a game of 7 Minutes in Heaven and she was drunk, does that really count?”

“Yes it does, now stop talking before I use this toaster as a blunt weapon.”

Lance laughed and shrugged, going back to his cereal search. He finally found some Froot Loops and poured himself a bowl, greeting Hunk as he entered the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Do you two need to make such a ruckus so early in the morning?” he yawned, trying to brush his hair down with his fingers. 

“It was time to get up anyway, work starts at 8.” Pidge reminded him. “We’re just always late. Amazing Allura hasn’t fired us yet.”

Hunk groaned, grabbing the Froot Loops box out of Lance’s hands and getting himself a bowl. “One step over the line and she just might. Remember that on your mission today, Lance.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’ll have a story before you can say ‘Coran Coran the gorgeous man.’”

“Good thing no one would ever say that,” Pidge called from the next room, sitting on top of Lance’s blankets from the night before. “You have all the time in the world.”

“Coran would say that, and I would say it to support him!” 

“Okay, Lance. Didn’t ask.”

The three finished up breakfast and piled into Hunk’s small truck once again, spending the fifteen-minute drive discussing the potential of a Star Trek animated series reboot. They all agreed it was a bad idea.

As they pulled into a parking space, Hunk turned to Lance. “She’s all yours, buddy; treat her well, have her back before 5.” He smiled and turned to Pidge. “And if he gets a single scratch on her you have permission to give his laptop several viruses.”

“Woo-hoo!” Pidge yelled gleefully, as Lance cried “No! What?”

Hunk just grinned and got out of the truck, Pidge following close behind, waving to Lance with that gremlin smirk of hers. Lance felt a sense of dread. 

He quickly shooed it away, however, opting instead for positive thoughts and good vibes. He had a job to do and he was going to do it. He sat in the driver’s seat and texted Shiro eagerly, awaiting his reply as to where Lions was shooting the music video. Some Sia song was turned up on the radio when the notification dinged, and Lance pulled out of that parking lot faster than Sia herself could say ‘I love cheap thrills’. 

~~~

 

Lance had been standing at the edge of this abandoned lot for at least half an hour, not sure what exactly he was supposed to do with Keith at the bottom of a ditch. Who shoots a music video on site when that site is a potentially dangerous lot in the middle of a small town where middle-aged men get drunk at noon and could throw beer bottles at them when they least expect it? Ridiculous, and exactly as pretentious as Lance had expected Keith to be. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and a spare cameraman shushed him from the side. 

Lance rolled his eyes and watched as Rolo executed a beautiful dance move and mouthed words all the way over in that ditch. Lance wanted to know what the words were, but alas, the music video had not yet been released, since they were in the process of filming it at that moment. Silly Lance.

“Hey.” he whispered, turning to the cameraman, leaning in a little, “Do you know when they’ll be done filming this- er- segment?”

The guy, a man around 50, with balding auburn hair, shook his head in annoyance. Lance decided not to bother him anymore.

Another fifteen minutes later, as he was dozing off against the side of a building, he heard the words ‘okay, take five, guys, good work’ and immediately perked up. He saw the band walking up the side of the lot, and he hurried towards them. Keith moved away as the majority moved towards an assistant with water bottles, reaching up to untie his hair as he walked towards the same spot Lance was in. Lance could feel his heart start beating wildly.

Really, heart? It was just Keith Kogane, you’re not even a fan. Sure he’s a celebrity, but-

“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t see you here.”

Okay, so Keith Kogane, the drummer for Lions, the best band in the world, had just spoken to him. A freelance journalist working for a local publication. Okay. This was fine.

“Um, Yeah. I’ll just. Didn’t mean to bother you. I’ll just rest somewhere else.”

“Wait!” Lance finally found his voice and gulped in some air. “Wait. Hi. Lance McClain, huge fan, the biggest fan, you could say. Hello. Hey. Please autograph my boobs.”

Keith’s eyes widened. “I- what??” He took a small step backwards, confusion written all over his face.

Lance would have started crying if he wasn’t such a cool guy. He had not meant to say that. That was supposed to stay between him and Pidge.

“I’m sorry. Wow. So sorry. Actually, I work at that convenience store a mile or so away, I was just taking a walk during break and, uh, happened to see you guys. I really am a huge fan.” he smiled, hoping those two years in theatre club were doing their fair share of the work. He stuck out his hand, still smiling, praying it wasn’t as awkward as he felt.

Keith cautiously took his hand and shook it, looking at Lance suspiciously. “Well, okay. Nice to meet you, I guess. I’m Keith.” He shook his head and looked away, his cheeks flushing a bit. “I mean, you already knew that. Being a fan and all.”

Lance nodded and propped himself up against the building, ready to strike up a stimulating conversation with his new best friend. 

“So-”

He was suddenly cut off by the heavenly voice of Rolo Vox. “Keith! Come get some water, we’re shooting again in a couple of minutes!”

Keith turned to stare at Rolo, giving him a slight incline of his head after a few seconds and then looking back to Lance. “So, bye.” and with those insightful words, he walked towards his band without a single spared glance at his adoring fan. He could see Rolo grabbing Keith’s shoulder, giving him a slight pat on the back, and could hear the words those angelic lips spoke. 

“Kogane, stop isolating yourself, man! Who was that?”

“Pretentious.” Lance grumbled, walking away with the balding cameraman’s eyes still on his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa sorry this is like.... really late wow i just have? very little motivation hah a,, anyway i?? hope this was better than the first chapter ;; i thought it was okay but. please tell me about anything you wouldve changed !!


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